Machineries of Joy

7digitalWhat we said:We’ll come clean right now: we’re big British Sea Power fans. Had Machineries of Joy been a dud, we’d probably have kept schtum in the hope it’d turn out to be a grower. Happily, our moral compass isn’t being compromised at all when we state that their fifth album-proper might well be their finest hour to date. Highlights are plentiful: the anthemic, string-swept title-track, a glorious, SFA-esque romp called ‘K-Hole’ and the horn-flecked barn-stormer ‘Monsters of Sunderland’, to name but three. Lyrically, it’s as weird and wonderful as we could have hoped for too, finding Yan and Hamilton yelping about Franciscan monks, ketamine and French female bodybuilders-turned-erotic movie stars. Best indie band in Britain? Maybe, just maybe…